The Newest Wonderful Life
by Amberleaf le Haunt
Summary: Amber lives in the city. When her Mother dies, she stays with her family in Mineral Town for some time. When the time comes to leave, will she come back or will a new wonderful life be lost forever, left to hang on the unchosen strings of fate? T for room
1. Prologue

The Newest Wonderful Life

Only My Latest Ramblings, Thank You Very Much  
Alrighty then! This is a new story! I got inspired by RunninforJesus7 and xXxDarkWolfAngelxXx's stories, so thank you for that! I needed it! :) I hope that EVERYBODY loves this story, simply because it's a story! And it's fun to read! And.... and.... *goes on for two hours with her list until someone slaps her*  
_Someone:_ That's enough!  
_Me:_ *holds head gingerly* Alright, alright! Oh, and did I mention.... *sees glare from Someone* Umm.... never mind. :P

Summary  
Young Amber lives in the city, working at the office each day for some sorely-needed money. However, when her mother dies, she must leave her job in the city for a while and stay in Mineral Town with her father and sister to recuperate. While there, she meets a new love and makes some friends. She learns the layout of the town and begins to think of as her home. However, when it's time to leave, will she change her mind and come back to Mineral Town? Or will a new wonderful life be lost forever, left to hang on the un-chosen strings of fate?

Prologue

_A little girl danced around on the grass, following a young woman straining under the weight of her backpack._

"_Mother! Mother! Look what I found!" exclaimed the little girl. She held up a small, dark purple flower. "What is it?!"_

"_Ah, Amber, that looks like a violet," the little girl's mother said, looking down at her daughter._

"_It's pretty!" Amber declared._

"_Ah, yes, so it is." Claire laughed. Amber had always liked the sound of her mother's laugh. It sounded like the high peal of wedding bells, chiming in the summer's breeze. "I've always wanted a shirt of this colour."_

"_....Really?" asked Amber curiously._

"_Yeah." Claire sighed. "Too bad I could never get a shirt in this colour."_

"_Hey, I know!" Amber suddenly declared. "I'll _make_ a shirt like this when I'm older! Just you wait; your finest sheep's wool will be used!"_

"_Why, thank you, dear." Claire bent down. "Anyway, I have to put my things in the shipping bin now. You should go back inside. I'll join you soon." She bent down and gave her little daughter a kiss on the head. Then, she sat down on the ground and started to empty things out of her backpack. She tossed them all into the shipping bin, one by one._

"_But, Mother," began Amber. "I want to go see the sheep! And the chickens! And the cows! And the horse and the dog, too!" She listed all of the animals off in perfect order, not missing a beat._

_Claire laughed. "Alright, alright. You may go. I'll come get you when I'm done this, though!"_

"_Aw, man….!" Amber looked sad for a moment, then realized that her Mom was plowing through her things to ship, as fast as ever. She raced off to the animal barns, and disappeared into the horse barn first. That was where Claire's horse was kept, she knew. The dog was usually in here, also. Claire usually put the dog outside only at night. She said hello to the horse and the dog and ran into the next barn: the poultry barn._

"_Hey, Chicky! Hey, Seiya! Why, hello there, Plum!" These were only three of Claire's chickens. They were among some of the finest, bred by gold-egg laying chickens. So far, Chicky only had 3 hearts and Seiya only had 8 hearts, and Chicky was just a chick, anyhow; but Plum was the oldest chicken. She had 10 hearts and she laid golden eggs! Amber picked up one that her mother had placed in the shipping bin and stared at it in awe. It was a _beautiful_ egg! And Plum, one of Amber's _favourite_ chickens, anyhow, was the one who had laid it!_

_After saying hello and good-bye to the chickens, Amber skipped into yet _another_ animal barn! It was the cow-and-sheep barn, which housed a few gold-milk and gold-wool animals, as well. Two of the cows, Nastie and Spots, had 10 hearts, and one of the sheep, Furry, had 10 hearts, as well. They all produced golden products. The _other_ three animals in there were one cow named Milkie, and two sheep named Rawr and Starry. Amber thought that they were very pretty animals. She stepped over to the shipping bin and examined a large piece of golden wool that lay inside._

"_Ooh…. pretty," she murmured, before saying good-bye to all the animals and leaving the barn. She skipped outside and looked at the other cows, sheep, and chickens that all ran around in their pen outside the barns._

"_Amber!" She suddenly heard her Mom calling her. "Ambeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr!"_

"_Coming!" the little girl called, patting the sheep nearest to the fence and running back to where her Mom was._

"_I'm done the shipping," Claire said. "Now, let's all go inside for dinner, shall we….?"_

_Claire and Amber ran back to the farmhouse, hand in hand._

_Another….Wonderful….Life_

"_But, Amber!"Claire's face was the perfect picture of sadness. "Why—whatever made you want to go to the _city_?!"_

"_I…. I just wanted to go." Amber, now a 15-year-old teenager, stared down at the floor. "I _told_ you already. I'm _sick_ of this town. I just need to…. _get away_."_

"_Amber, please don't go." Her father, Robert, looked her squarely in the eye._

"_But I want to go. I _need_ to go. I need to get away from here!" Amber insisted._

"_Well, you're not making any sense, but…. if you _really_ want to go…. I guess you may go," decided Amber's Mother._

_And so, Amber had won. The argument was settled, and she was moving away from here! Finally! She was _ecstatic_._

_Now, the only thing left was to say good-bye. _That will be difficult_, Amber thought. She was right. It _was_ difficult to say good-bye to all her friends, especially Popuri, who was 17 at the moment._

"_But, Amber!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "You promised that we would be best friends, and that you would live in Mineral Town _forever_!"_

"_I know, I know," Amber said softly, hugging her. "But this is what I have to do, I'm _sure_ of it. Don't worry; I promise I'll write!"_

_And so Amber left two weeks later on a ship that would take her far, far away from there to a big city. Everyone was there, even Popuri, who was sitting at the front of the crowd, holding a red-checkered handkerchief and waving, meanwhile bawling her eyes out._

I feel so bad for her_, Amber thought unhappily._

_And so, life slowly got back on track and went onward. Claire tended to the farm and Amber worked hard at her job in the city._

_7 years later, she got the call that her mother was dead._


	2. Chapter 1

**Well, here is the long-awaited Chapter 1!!!! ^^; **

* * *

Chapter 1—Ring, Ring!

_Ring, ring! Ring, ring!_ Amber's phone shrilled loudly. Amber got up from her chair.

"What?" she said irritably. Amber felt as if she had already answered her _life's_ worth of phone calls this evening! There had been the one from her boss, the two telemarketers, her friend…. all in the last hour!

_Oh, well, too bad,_ she thought, making her way over to the phone and picking it up.

"Yes? Amber here," she said quickly. She was anxious to get back to her good book.

"_Amber?"_ asked the voice on the line. _"It's me, your Dad."_

"Dad!" she cried happily. "What's up?"

"_Um, there's something rather serious that you should know,"_ her father said slowly. _"Your mother is dead."_

Amber was speechless for a moment. A range of emotions flitted across her face. First, surprise. Next, rage. Shock. Surprise again. Sadness. And, finally, to her horror…. tears.

"Wh-what h-ha-p-p-ened-d?" she bawled. "Wh-why d-d-di-di-di-di-did-did she d-die?"

"_She was mining, and she fainted. We couldn't get to her in time, and by the time we _did_ get her, she was already dead. Jill and Charlie and I are devastated,"_ her father's reassuring voice said. _"Do not worry. But I would like you to stay in Mineral Town for some weeks to recuperate. Okay?"_

"B-B-But I c-can't l-leave my j-j-job!" cried Amber. She wasn't crying too much anymore, but she was still stuttering. "What'll I d-do?!"

"_Well, I'm _ordering_ to come, so you'd better come. I'm sure you can take off a few sick days. As far as I know, you still have lots of sick days and vacation time left, yes?"_

"Y-Yes," Amber sniffled. "I'll call them right away."

"_Good," _said her father. _"When do you think I'll see you….?"_

"Sunday. I can't promise any sooner than that," Amber decided.

"_Okay; I'll be waiting at the docks on Sunday,"_ said her father.

"I'll see you there!" said Amber. She was smiling now. "Alrighty then! Guess I'd better call my work." She dialed the number of the office that she worked at and told them that she'd be taking a month off. They agreed, much to her surprise.

_Okay, then,_ she thought. _On Sunday morning I'll catch the ferry, and then I'll be off!_

In the meantime, however, she had a _lot_ of work to do to prepare.

***

I stepped off the boat onto the dock of Mineral Town. Now that I was off the boat, I noticed that it was very warm outside. I looked at my MP3 player, which had been playing one of my favourite songs.

_Stacy's Mom, she's got it goin' on_

_Stacey can't you see? You're just not the girl for me…._

'_Cause I'm in love with Stacy's Mom_

"Ah, what the heck." I turned the music player off and looked around me.

_Hmm. Must be summer here, too,_ I thought, then immediately felt guilty. Why shouldn't Mineral Town have summer, too, if the city did?

"Welcome, welcome, Amber!" my dad cried, rushing towards me. He embraced me in a hug and kissed the top of my head. I blushed.

"Hello, Dad," I said shyly.

"I was waiting for quite a while for you!" he said happily.

"Aw, thanks, Dad! Where're Jill and Charlie and Popuri?" I wondered aloud, quickly glancing around the beach.

"They're at home," my dad informed me. "We've all just been waiting for you! They said that I should meet you at the beach myself. Isn't that sweet?!"

"Yes, Dad, but can we _please_ just go now?" I begged. I was getting edgy. "Besides, I _do_ really wanna see them, y'know…." I pouted. My dad laughed.

"Okay, okay; alright, alright," he agreed. "Let's go see them."

I hadn't been here even _once_ for the last 7 years, but I still remembered it like I had only walked these paths yesterday. I actually walked this world in dreams. Sometimes, I would take a nap during the day and be sitting right outside the farm or something. I would walk in and see the farm in all its glory—usually. Sometimes, I would walk around town if it was the middle of the night. It was usually dark in the middle of the night. During the day, though; sometimes I would see my mom tending to her crops or whatever—mostly it just depended on the time of day that Mineral Town was at. I would walk up to her, smiling.

Another….Wonderful….Life….Flashback

"_Hi, Mom!" I greeted her._

"_W—Amber, w-why are you here?!" she gasped, surprised._

_I shrugged. "Well, I was dreaming and I suddenly was right here. I don't know _what_ happened, exactly…. but it _does_ seem like I'm really here."_

_Claire looked taken aback. She gasped. "Oh….! Have you ever heard of people who dream in real life?!"_

"_Well, of _course_ we all dream in real life!" Amber said, tossing her head, looking all prissy and sophisticated. "We go to sleep in real life and wake up in real life. The end."_

"_N-No, but…. I don't know how to say this, but…. real life dreamers are people who can easily think about where they would like to go, fall asleep, and then be there as if they had teleported. It's _real_, and you can _do it_. What were you thinking about before you went to sleep?"_

"_Uhh. Mineral Town?" I answered._

"_Well, then, that's where you are." She nodded thoughtfully._

"_Well…. this is the first time I've done this, so…. what do I _do_?" I paused, and looked around. "It's been two years since I was last here. Can I…. Can I go up to Mother's Hill?"_

"_Umm, sure," said my Mom. "You shouldn't stay here for too long—if you fell asleep at 6PM real world time, and it was 10PM here when you decided to leave, it would be 10PM when you woke up, too. Supposedly, you can get stuck in dreams, but I've never heard of that happening. But, still…. you should be careful, all the same."_

_I nodded. "Okay. I'll be careful. I'll run up to Mother's Hill now! Do you want me back for anything?"_

"_No, you can just run around as you like. Maybe you should see if you could go visit Popuri?"_

"_Yes! That's a _great_ idea, Mom! Thanks!" I quickly ran out to the town, instead of Mother's Hill. I could leave that for another day, if I ever decided to come here at dawn. It was 2:30PM. I had been taking a much-needed nap on my sick day. The shop closed at three, I knew that. So, I had to hurry!_

_I quickly raced over to the bird shop and saw Popuri in the yard. "Popuri! Popuri!" I cried._

"_What—Amber!" she cried. "Why are you here?!"_

"_I—I came—well, have you ever heard of dreaming in real life?" I asked her._

_She nodded. "Yeah; isn't that when you fall asleep and end up somewhere else?"_

_I was impressed. Obviously, somebody had told her that. Or had she done it herself? "Yeah, well; that's what _I_ did. And now I'm here." I looked around. "Obviously, this shop hasn't changed much."_

_She nodded again. "No…. it hasn't. The only problem is," she said, with tears in her eyes. "I'm no good at taking care of the chickens! I'm constantly leaving them outside, or something else horrible like that, and then they _die_!" She began to cry._

"_Umm. Que sera sera," Amber quoted: "What will happen, will happen; what won't, won't. That's all _I_ have to say about this. It just means that if you learn to take care of them, the chickens will live; if you _don't_ learn to take care of them, well, then, they'll die; sorry."_

_Popuri sniffled. "Well…. maybe you're right. Thanks."_

"_You should go back in the shop; I'll come," I told her. Popuri nodded, and I followed her into their house._

"_Welcome; welcome!" Lillia cried. "I _knew_ you would come back! I just _knew_ it!"_

"_Well, actually, I'm dreaming in real life, that sort of thing; I'm not actually moving back here. _Yet,_" I informed her._

"_Oh, too bad." Lillia looked crestfallen._

"_Umm, what time is it? I have to be back in the city by 3:30," I quickly said._

"_Er, it's 3:10." Lillia quickly checked the clock. "If you want to say good-bye to your Mom and family, I think that you'd better hurry along!"_

"_Okay. 'Bye, Lillia. See ya, Popuri; I'm leaving now." I quickly nodded at them, and raced out of the shop._

_I ran back to the farm and into the farmhouse. Dad and my siblings startled when they saw me._

"_I didn't think it was actually _true_!" Jill cried. "She can actually dream in real life!!!"_

"_Welcome, Amber," Dad told me. "I'm glad you're back."_

"_Amber! Amber!" Charlie was only 3 years old; he ran up to me and hugged my legs. "Amber! You're back!"_

"_Yes, I am." I was pleased with myself. "Oops, it's 3:29." I had glanced at the clock. "I have to get back to the city now, but I'm coming back. See ya!"_

_My family later told me that I just faded and sparkled from view, but all of a sudden I was in my bed. That was all I knew about the transition from world to world._

Another….Wonderful….Life….End….Flashback

"So, here we are." My Dad stopped me at the entrance to the farm. "We're here at the farm."

I stared. This was nothing like I remembered it!


End file.
